What are you reading the week of December 19, 2015?
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1dianeham
Margaret Millar (née Sturm) (February 5, 1915 – March 26, 1994) was an American-Canadian mystery and suspense writer.
Born in Kitchener, Ontario, she was educated at the Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate Institute and the University of Toronto. She moved to the United States after marrying Kenneth Millar (better known under the pen name Ross Macdonald). They resided for decades in the city of Santa Barbara, which was often used as a locale in her later novels under the pseudonyms of San Felice or Santa Felicia. The Millars had a daughter who died in 1970.
Millar's books are distinguished by depth of characterization. Often we are shown the rather complex interior lives of the people in her books, with issues of class, insecurity, failed ambitions, loneliness or existential isolation or paranoia often being explored. Unusual people, mild societal misfits or people who don't quite fit into their surroundings are given much interior detail. In some of the books (for example in The Iron Gates) we are given insight into what it feels like to be losing touch with reality and evolving into madness. In general, she is a writer of both expressive description and economy, often ambitious in conveying the sociological context of the stories.
Millar often delivers "surprise endings," but the details that would allow the solution of the surprise have usually been subtly included, in the best genre tradition. Her books focus on subtleties of human interaction and rich psychological detail of individual characters as much as on plot.
Millar was a pioneer in writing about the psychology of women. Even as early as the '40s and '50s, her books have a mature and matter-of-fact view of class distinctions, sexual freedom and frustration, and the ambivalence of moral codes depending on a character's economic circumstances. Read against the backdrop of Production Code-era movies of the time, they remind us that life as lived in the '40s and '50s was not as black-and-white morally as Hollywood would have us believe.
While she was not known for any one recurring detective (unlike her husband, whose constant gumshoe was Lew Archer), she occasionally used a detective character for more than one novel. Among her occasional ongoing sleuths were Canadians Dr. Paul Prye (her first invention, in the earliest books) and Inspector Sands (a quiet, unassuming Canadian police inspector who might be the most endearing of her recurring inventions). In the California years, a few books featured either Joe Quinn, a rather down-on-his-luck private eye, or Tom Aragon, a young, Hispanic lawyer.
Most of Millar's books are out of print in America, with the exception of the short story collection The Couple Next Door and two novels, "An Air That Kills" and "Do Evil In Return", that have been re-issued as classics by Stark House Press in California.
Awards and recognition
In 1956 Millar won the Edgar Allan Poe Awards, Best Novel award for Beast in View. In 1965 she was awarded the Woman of the Year Award by the Los Angeles Times.
In 1983 she was awarded the Grand Master Award by the Mystery Writers of America in recognition of her lifetime achievements.
In 1987, critic and mystery writer H.R.F Keating included Millar's Beast In View in his Crime and Mystery: The 100 Best Books. He wrote:
“Margaret Millar is surely one of late twentieth-century crime fiction's best writers, in the sense that the actual writing in her books, the prose, is of superb quality. On almost every page of this one there is some description, whether of a physical thing or a mental state, that sends a sharp ray of extra meaning into the reader's mind.”
Bibliography
"Paul Prye" Mystery Novels
The Invisible Worm (1941)
The Weak-Eyed Bat (1942)
The Devil Loves Me (1942)
"Inspector Sands" Mystery Novels
Wall of Eyes (1943)
The Iron Gates (Taste of Fears) (1945)
"Tom Aragon" Mystery Novels
Ask for Me Tomorrow (1976)
The Murder of Miranda (1979)
Mermaid (1982)
Other Mystery Novels
Fire Will Freeze (1944)
Do Evil in Return (1950)
Rose's Last Summer (1952)
Vanish in an Instant (1952)
Beast in View (1955) (Edgar Award for Best Novel, 1956)
An Air That Kills (The Soft Talkers) (1957)
The Listening Walls (1959)
A Stranger in My Grave (1960)
How Like an Angel (1962)
The Fiend (1964)
Beyond This Point Are Monsters (1970)
Banshee (1983)
Spider Webs (1986)
The Couple Next Door: Collected Short Mysteries. Ed. Tom Nolan (2004)
Other Novels
Experiment in Springtime (1947)
It’s All in the Family (1948)
The Cannibal Heart (1949)
Wives and Lovers (1954)
The Birds and the Beasts Were There (1968) (memoir)
Born in Kitchener, Ontario, she was educated at the Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate Institute and the University of Toronto. She moved to the United States after marrying Kenneth Millar (better known under the pen name Ross Macdonald). They resided for decades in the city of Santa Barbara, which was often used as a locale in her later novels under the pseudonyms of San Felice or Santa Felicia. The Millars had a daughter who died in 1970.
Millar's books are distinguished by depth of characterization. Often we are shown the rather complex interior lives of the people in her books, with issues of class, insecurity, failed ambitions, loneliness or existential isolation or paranoia often being explored. Unusual people, mild societal misfits or people who don't quite fit into their surroundings are given much interior detail. In some of the books (for example in The Iron Gates) we are given insight into what it feels like to be losing touch with reality and evolving into madness. In general, she is a writer of both expressive description and economy, often ambitious in conveying the sociological context of the stories.
Millar often delivers "surprise endings," but the details that would allow the solution of the surprise have usually been subtly included, in the best genre tradition. Her books focus on subtleties of human interaction and rich psychological detail of individual characters as much as on plot.
Millar was a pioneer in writing about the psychology of women. Even as early as the '40s and '50s, her books have a mature and matter-of-fact view of class distinctions, sexual freedom and frustration, and the ambivalence of moral codes depending on a character's economic circumstances. Read against the backdrop of Production Code-era movies of the time, they remind us that life as lived in the '40s and '50s was not as black-and-white morally as Hollywood would have us believe.
While she was not known for any one recurring detective (unlike her husband, whose constant gumshoe was Lew Archer), she occasionally used a detective character for more than one novel. Among her occasional ongoing sleuths were Canadians Dr. Paul Prye (her first invention, in the earliest books) and Inspector Sands (a quiet, unassuming Canadian police inspector who might be the most endearing of her recurring inventions). In the California years, a few books featured either Joe Quinn, a rather down-on-his-luck private eye, or Tom Aragon, a young, Hispanic lawyer.
Most of Millar's books are out of print in America, with the exception of the short story collection The Couple Next Door and two novels, "An Air That Kills" and "Do Evil In Return", that have been re-issued as classics by Stark House Press in California.
Awards and recognition
In 1956 Millar won the Edgar Allan Poe Awards, Best Novel award for Beast in View. In 1965 she was awarded the Woman of the Year Award by the Los Angeles Times.
In 1983 she was awarded the Grand Master Award by the Mystery Writers of America in recognition of her lifetime achievements.
In 1987, critic and mystery writer H.R.F Keating included Millar's Beast In View in his Crime and Mystery: The 100 Best Books. He wrote:
“Margaret Millar is surely one of late twentieth-century crime fiction's best writers, in the sense that the actual writing in her books, the prose, is of superb quality. On almost every page of this one there is some description, whether of a physical thing or a mental state, that sends a sharp ray of extra meaning into the reader's mind.”
Bibliography
"Paul Prye" Mystery Novels
The Invisible Worm (1941)
The Weak-Eyed Bat (1942)
The Devil Loves Me (1942)
"Inspector Sands" Mystery Novels
Wall of Eyes (1943)
The Iron Gates (Taste of Fears) (1945)
"Tom Aragon" Mystery Novels
Ask for Me Tomorrow (1976)
The Murder of Miranda (1979)
Mermaid (1982)
Other Mystery Novels
Fire Will Freeze (1944)
Do Evil in Return (1950)
Rose's Last Summer (1952)
Vanish in an Instant (1952)
Beast in View (1955) (Edgar Award for Best Novel, 1956)
An Air That Kills (The Soft Talkers) (1957)
The Listening Walls (1959)
A Stranger in My Grave (1960)
How Like an Angel (1962)
The Fiend (1964)
Beyond This Point Are Monsters (1970)
Banshee (1983)
Spider Webs (1986)
The Couple Next Door: Collected Short Mysteries. Ed. Tom Nolan (2004)
Other Novels
Experiment in Springtime (1947)
It’s All in the Family (1948)
The Cannibal Heart (1949)
Wives and Lovers (1954)
The Birds and the Beasts Were There (1968) (memoir)
2hemlokgang
Any opinions about Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon?
3mollygrace
Thanks for the good start, dianeham.
In the midst of holiday shopping, wrapping, baking, etc., I continue to read the remarkable Threads: The Delicate Life of John Craske. I must explore more books by Julia Blackburn. Not that I need another favorite author to put on the "watch" list -- it already runs to four pages. Ah, well, there's always room for one more -- actually two since I also want to add Margaret Millar. That's what I get for hanging around this good ol' place -- the authors list and the wish list and the tbr pile just grow and grow while my bank account and the available shelf space . . . well, you know how that goes.
But who wants to dwell on the down side of things when there are Christmas cookies to eat and New Year's resolutions to consider, and surely one of those presents with my name on it will contain a gift card for a book store . . . surely.
I hope the holiday season is good to all of you. I do know from long experience it can be a very difficult time -- I still tend to think of the holidays as the monster that waits for me at the end of the year. Take care of yourselves, look out for others, and keep a book close at hand to help you through the not-so-jolly stuff. If I stand in my library and get very quiet I can almost hear the books talking to one another and it's like getting a hug from dear old friends.
In the midst of holiday shopping, wrapping, baking, etc., I continue to read the remarkable Threads: The Delicate Life of John Craske. I must explore more books by Julia Blackburn. Not that I need another favorite author to put on the "watch" list -- it already runs to four pages. Ah, well, there's always room for one more -- actually two since I also want to add Margaret Millar. That's what I get for hanging around this good ol' place -- the authors list and the wish list and the tbr pile just grow and grow while my bank account and the available shelf space . . . well, you know how that goes.
But who wants to dwell on the down side of things when there are Christmas cookies to eat and New Year's resolutions to consider, and surely one of those presents with my name on it will contain a gift card for a book store . . . surely.
I hope the holiday season is good to all of you. I do know from long experience it can be a very difficult time -- I still tend to think of the holidays as the monster that waits for me at the end of the year. Take care of yourselves, look out for others, and keep a book close at hand to help you through the not-so-jolly stuff. If I stand in my library and get very quiet I can almost hear the books talking to one another and it's like getting a hug from dear old friends.
4seitherin
Still reading The Girl With All the Gifts and Thief's Magic. Enjoying both books.
5dianeham
>thanks for the thanks.
Margaret Millar's books are in the process of coming out on ebooks. I read them all back in the 70s. Also there is a recent book of letters between her husband, Ross MacDonald and Eudora Welty.
I'm still reading my er book In a different key. Need to finish it to review it. And have to get back to Seveneves so I can finish it by the end of the year.
Margaret Millar's books are in the process of coming out on ebooks. I read them all back in the 70s. Also there is a recent book of letters between her husband, Ross MacDonald and Eudora Welty.
I'm still reading my er book In a different key. Need to finish it to review it. And have to get back to Seveneves so I can finish it by the end of the year.
6rocketjk
I finished the mildly entertaining but mostly inconsequential Mackerel by Moonlight by William F. Weld.
I've started Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence, which is likely to take me through the end of the calendar year.
I've started Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence, which is likely to take me through the end of the calendar year.
7ILuvBookplates
I've been reading Say Good-Bye To Archie a mini-mystery by C.S. Challinor a couple of sentences at a time when I have a few minutes to spare. It's only 60-something pages so I should be finished with it by Christmas. I've also started Prelude to Murder and am about to start Christmas is Murder. Both also by the same author. Part of the Rex Graves series which I'm reading out of order so I hope it doesn't matter.
8Limelite
Finished the interesting and odd read (for me) of The Secret Supper by Javier Sierra, which is intriguing for the esoterica about old theological texts marked as dangerous by the 15th C. Catholic church and symbolic codes employed by da Vinci in his artworks. It's a mystery about interpreting the "secret" of da Vinci's Cenacolo (Last Supper). Don't normally read this kind of book, so I'm surprised how much I liked it.
Just about to finish Circling the Sun, biographical fiction of Beryl Markham's life in Kenya and England and her occupation as a race horse trainer near Nairobi, as well as her love for flying.
Next up is my LTER, "Georgia" (Touchstone misdirects) by Dawn Tripp. Another biographical fiction, this time about the American artist Georgia O'Keeffe. Also, Border Town by Shen Congwen, one of the inspirational Chinese writers to the present generation of post-Mao authors.
Just about to finish Circling the Sun, biographical fiction of Beryl Markham's life in Kenya and England and her occupation as a race horse trainer near Nairobi, as well as her love for flying.
Next up is my LTER, "Georgia" (Touchstone misdirects) by Dawn Tripp. Another biographical fiction, this time about the American artist Georgia O'Keeffe. Also, Border Town by Shen Congwen, one of the inspirational Chinese writers to the present generation of post-Mao authors.
9Jim53
>1 dianeham: Thanks for this. I was not familiar with Millar, but I see that my library has several of her titles, so I'll check her out.
I'm about two-thirds of the way through The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, which several people in our local Friends meeting are reading. It's one of my favorite reads of the year. At bedtime I'm reading Susan Cooper's series that began with Over Sea, Under Stone and continues with The Dark Is Rising. Once I finish with Kidd I'll pick up my new ER book, Democracy in Black.
I'm about two-thirds of the way through The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, which several people in our local Friends meeting are reading. It's one of my favorite reads of the year. At bedtime I'm reading Susan Cooper's series that began with Over Sea, Under Stone and continues with The Dark Is Rising. Once I finish with Kidd I'll pick up my new ER book, Democracy in Black.
10figsfromthistle
I am half way through One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. After I am finished, I am going to read A new life by Bernard Malamud.
11fredbacon
>1 dianeham: Thank you for taking over duties for me this weekend. Nice job.
Seated next to me on the plane from Atlanta to Boston was a gentleman with a cough and a box of tissues in his lap. When the flight attendants came around to collect trash, he handed them a couple of wadded up tissues. The flight attendant took it without complaint, but he handled it as if he had been handed a live grenade. Now it's just a wait and see proposition. I hate traveling at the holidays.
I'm reading Elliptic Tales a popular mathematics book about number theory and elliptic curves. It assumes some familiarity with advanced mathematics (calculus and linear algebra), but it doesn't require you to be a professional mathematician.
After watching the Syfy channel's three part production of Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End, I pulled out my old paperback copy from the early 70s. It's my favorite science fiction cover ever. The original art work is by Dean Ellis.
Seated next to me on the plane from Atlanta to Boston was a gentleman with a cough and a box of tissues in his lap. When the flight attendants came around to collect trash, he handed them a couple of wadded up tissues. The flight attendant took it without complaint, but he handled it as if he had been handed a live grenade. Now it's just a wait and see proposition. I hate traveling at the holidays.
I'm reading Elliptic Tales a popular mathematics book about number theory and elliptic curves. It assumes some familiarity with advanced mathematics (calculus and linear algebra), but it doesn't require you to be a professional mathematician.
After watching the Syfy channel's three part production of Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End, I pulled out my old paperback copy from the early 70s. It's my favorite science fiction cover ever. The original art work is by Dean Ellis.
12jnwelch
>11 fredbacon: Nice cover, Fred. Great book, and we're about halfway through the SyFy production.
Yes Please by Amy Poehler was an entertaining memoir, and my wife and I just finished reading Little House in the Big Woods to each other. We've read Little House on the Prairie, so Farmer Boy is up next. I'm also enjoying Hattie Big Sky, and have Penguin Lost, the sequel to Death and the Penguin, teed up as well.
Yes Please by Amy Poehler was an entertaining memoir, and my wife and I just finished reading Little House in the Big Woods to each other. We've read Little House on the Prairie, so Farmer Boy is up next. I'm also enjoying Hattie Big Sky, and have Penguin Lost, the sequel to Death and the Penguin, teed up as well.
13dianeham
>Glad to be of service. I used to be very active in an online forum years ago and didn't realise how much I missed it until I fell in love with lt. So I will look to be more involved as I learn my way around.
I didn't know about that syfy production. Will look it up.
I was reading Seveneves and put it down for a week and now I am having trouble getting back into it.
I didn't know about that syfy production. Will look it up.
I was reading Seveneves and put it down for a week and now I am having trouble getting back into it.
14seitherin
Finished The Girl With All the Gifts by M. R. Carey and Thief's Magic by Trudi Canavan. Really liked the former.
Started Shadowline by Glen Cook and Child of Fire by Harry Connolly.
Started Shadowline by Glen Cook and Child of Fire by Harry Connolly.
15princessgarnet
Star Wars: Before the Awakening by Greg Rucka
For younger readers, this book gives the back stories of Finn, Rey, and Poe, the three lead characters in the new "Star Wars" movie. There are accompanying ink illustrations throughout the book.
The Bronte Plot by Katherine Reay
For younger readers, this book gives the back stories of Finn, Rey, and Poe, the three lead characters in the new "Star Wars" movie. There are accompanying ink illustrations throughout the book.
The Bronte Plot by Katherine Reay
16enaid
Between travel(I'm with you fredbacon, traveling this time of year is awful), a cold and family complications, I've been barely focused on The Verdict by Nick Stone. I feel very curmudgeonly towards all the characters and impatient with the errors(e.g. for some reason the phrase small talk is printed as "SmallTalk" as if it were a new Apple product, or something). It's supposed to be like a British The Firm but what I wouldn't give for some solid John Grisham prose and plotting.
I tried starting In Search of Lost Time but it didn't mesh well with the cold medicine.
I tried starting In Search of Lost Time but it didn't mesh well with the cold medicine.
17browner56
After chipping away at it on a daily basis for the past three weeks, I just finished J R by William Gaddis. Opinion seems very divided about this post-modern classic, but I thought it was one of the best satires of capitalism and the educational system that I have read. It was also hilarious on occasion, although it was hardly a user-friendly experience given the all-dialogue, no-chapters-or-sections writing style that Gaddis adopted.
18Limelite
Finished a surprisingly good Renaissance thriller written by Javier Sierra about Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper," titled The Secret Supper.
Just opened my November LTER biographical novel, "Georgia" by Dawn Tripp, about the American artist, Georgia O'Keeffe.
Most excellent wind-up of another reading year.
Just opened my November LTER biographical novel, "Georgia" by Dawn Tripp, about the American artist, Georgia O'Keeffe.
Most excellent wind-up of another reading year.
19jnwelch
Hattie Big Sky was a good 'un, and I've already picked up the sequel, Hattie Ever After. Now I'm a ways into Slade House and quite taken with it so far.
20mynovelthoughts
Finished Where'd you go Bernadette which I enjoyed for the most part until the final couple of sections which felt cobbled together to me. I am starting Orphan Train today.
21mollygrace
I finished Julia Blackburn's Threads: The Delicate Life of John Craske -- quite a wonderful book.
Next up: A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
Next up: A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
22ahef1963
>21 mollygrace: I LOVE A Town Like Alice. Very much love. Hope you enjoy it!
Tried being sensible and reading Dickens or Hugo, but it didn't work. I'm too scatterbrained at the moment to read a large book. Murder at Mt. Fuji arrived in the mail yesterday, and as it's a short book, I am reading it instead of more nutritious books.
Tried being sensible and reading Dickens or Hugo, but it didn't work. I'm too scatterbrained at the moment to read a large book. Murder at Mt. Fuji arrived in the mail yesterday, and as it's a short book, I am reading it instead of more nutritious books.
23framboise
#20 mynovelthoughts: I loved Where'd You Go, Bernadette. Wish I could read that for the first time again.
Halfway through with The Martian. Still really enjoying it.
Halfway through with The Martian. Still really enjoying it.
24mollygrace
>22 ahef1963: Thanks. In 1981 I watched a TV miniseries based on the book and promised myself I'd read the book someday. I really didn't intend to wait 34 years, but better late than never.
25ahef1963
>24 mollygrace: Molly Grace! My story is identical! It starred Bryan somebody! I always thought I'd read it some day, and a couple of years ago read it on Project Gutenberg Australia. I loved it so much that I bought a copy of it, because there are some books that you HAVE to have on your shelves! Thirty-four years is a LONG time, isn't it?!
26Meredy
Boy, do I have a scary read for Christmas: Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath by Ted Koppel, a warning klaxon calling us to awareness of our potentially catastrophic susceptibility to loss of the power grid. He pictures major cities collapsing into chaos--no power, no services, no food and water supply, no toilet flushing, and more--within two or thee days after a massive coordinated breach that sounds all too possible. I have this as an ER copy, and man, it sounds important, but I am not loving it.
Give me some nice comfortable ghosts and ghouls by the fire, and I'll feel much better.
Give me some nice comfortable ghosts and ghouls by the fire, and I'll feel much better.
27mollygrace
>25 ahef1963: Bryan Brown, Helen Morse, and the wonderful Gordon Jackson, who was also "Hudson", the butler from "Upstairs, Downstairs". Thirty-four years -- about half my life ago -- yet I still have vivid memories of the look and feel of that miniseries, if not exactly the plot. Maybe I waited until now to give me time to forget the particulars.
28Meredy
A Town Like Alice was one of my few five-star reads from 2015. Now I have to look for the movie.
29PaperbackPirate
To finish my last challenge of the year, read a book with a body of water in the title, I am reading The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman. I like this story as much as the other I read by the same author.
31Tara1Reads
I finished the funny Wishin' and Hopin': A Christmas Story by Wally Lamb and am starting Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast.
32chumofchance
I loved it. AtD demands a lot from the reader, so take your time, keep a dictionary close, and enjoy a unique literary experience.
33CarolynSchroeder
Hello Beautiful Readers ~ It has been a while and I'm doing a little better after the loss of my Mom. I am finally able to read a bit like I used to. Thank you for all the kind words you have given me throughout the last two months.
I finished Lauren Groff's Fates and Furies and while not as awesome as Arcadia, I did like it a lot. She's just a great writer, about all the uncomfortable stuff of life and relationships! Not exactly likable people ... but for whatever reason, that did not bother me.
I am about halfway into Find a Way by Diana Nyad recommended highly by my fellow yogi (and distance swimmer - he is, not me!) friend. I am really enjoying her story.
I also am about done with my recently received ARC When Breath Becomes Air by recently deceased neurosurgeon Paul Paul Kalanithi about medicine, philosophy, spirituality, love, life, death and ultimately his battle with lung cancer (which exactly like my Mom's cancer, had metastasized to his spine causing back pain and tiredness as its first symptoms). It is a beautiful, sad, wise memoir and I'm honored he left it for us to read.
I finished Lauren Groff's Fates and Furies and while not as awesome as Arcadia, I did like it a lot. She's just a great writer, about all the uncomfortable stuff of life and relationships! Not exactly likable people ... but for whatever reason, that did not bother me.
I am about halfway into Find a Way by Diana Nyad recommended highly by my fellow yogi (and distance swimmer - he is, not me!) friend. I am really enjoying her story.
I also am about done with my recently received ARC When Breath Becomes Air by recently deceased neurosurgeon Paul Paul Kalanithi about medicine, philosophy, spirituality, love, life, death and ultimately his battle with lung cancer (which exactly like my Mom's cancer, had metastasized to his spine causing back pain and tiredness as its first symptoms). It is a beautiful, sad, wise memoir and I'm honored he left it for us to read.
34Meredy
>32 chumofchance: Can't make out what book or post you're referring to here.
35Tara1Reads
>34 Meredy: I think that was in reference to post >2 hemlokgang:.
36Tara1Reads
I finished Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? last night and have been reading David Sedaris' Holidays on Ice.
37dianeham
Still kind of reading Seveneves but honestly I am really sick of it. Want to know how it ends or I would just give up. I skipped a number of sections that I found really boring - like moving the ice comet. I did like it in the beginning. It's hard for me to tell lately if I lose interest in books because of my physical condition or not. I have fibromyalgia and I get bone tired plus people talk about "fibro fog." If it's that then that could have something to do with my losing interest. Like maybe I just can't follow a long story.
Maybe it's a good thing that I am focusing on short stories in 2016!
Maybe it's a good thing that I am focusing on short stories in 2016!
